BidTravel Group and Travelport ink deal

10 November 2012

Africa’s largest travel group, BidTravel, has signed a new, strategic agreement with Travelport which will see its franchise businesses in Southern Africa continue to have access to the Galileo GDS platform as well as other extensive industry-leading technology emanating from the Travelport stable.

BidTravel, which operates leading travel management company brands in Southern Africa such as HRG, CWT, BCD, Travel Connections, Harvey World Travel and Travelwise (based in Botswana), has also signed up to be the first African launch partner for the Travelport Universal Desktop™ with testing of a bespoke version of the flagship point of sale product already underway.

Under the new long term agreement, the BidTravel travel management company brands in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana will have access to Travelport’s unrivalled air, hotel and car content, including a number of Travelport-exclusive deals signed with African airlines. Travelport’s ePricing™ technology will also be deployed across the BidTravel network, ensuring travel consultants have peace of mind that they are finding the best possible flight options for their customers.
“We are confident that this enhanced partnership with Travelport will translate into additional sales opportunities for both our business and leisure travel agency partners. We thought long and hard about what we needed from our travel technology provider and Travelport’s innovative product suite and rich content offering as well as its ambitious plans for the future with its Universal API and Universal Desktop technology, most closely matched the goals and growth strategy of our organisation,” said Dawood Tagari, executive director: information technology for BidTravel.

“We were also impressed by the undeniable commitment Travelport has displayed over the last 12 to 18 months to investing in Africa, and, in particular, their recent acquisition in Southern Africa. They have a regional team on the ground who are truly committed to the local cause and benefit from the full backing of the global Travelport organisation,” commented Allan Lunz, managing director of BidTravel.

“BidTravel is Africa’s largest travel group and we are honoured to have been selected once again as their strategic technology partner. It is a clear endorsement of the efforts we have been making in the region for a number of years and the innovation that is coming out of the global Travelport business and being brought to the travel industry in Southern Africa. We are looking forward to working very closely with BidTravel over the coming months and years to ensure that we help them to execute their long term strategic plans,” said Mark Meehan, managing director, Travelport Africa.